Police search for culprits of local ATM scams

The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office is reaching out to the public in hopes of finding the two men responsible for robbing three local ATMs.

“It’s something that is happening throughout the state by these two individuals,” said Lt. Todd Kelly with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. The men targeted “three different locations within Alachua County. All of them were M&S banks, and they hit those locations twice.”

Kelly said the specifics of how the scam works are unclear, but police have a basic idea.

“What we do know is they are using an ATM card from out of the country and conducting a transaction and while the transaction is being processed, they cancel that transaction and somehow manipulate the machine to where they can withdraw a small amount of the original requested amount,” he said. “But on the transaction it appears it was completely cancelled.”

The money stolen at the three ATMs belonged to the bank, and no customers have been victimized in Alachua County, Kelly said.

Although there are no leads on the identities of the suspects, the two men were caught on camera at an ATM in Hillsborough County. Those photos are being distributed to the public.

Kelly said there is evidence that suggests the two men are from South Florida and that they travel up and down the interstate, hitting different ATM locations.

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